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Obama to blast Boehner's 'ant' remark

The White House has released excerpts of President Obama's upcoming speech today in Racine, WI, to signal that he will use his remarks to criticize the Republicans on the economy -- and in particular House Minority Leader John Boehner (though not by name).

For example:

This debate we're having in Washington isn't about big government or small government. It's about responsible government. It's about accountable government. It's about a government that stands on the side of the American people – a government that breaks down barriers to opportunity and prosperity. That's the kind of government we need.

We already tried the other side's ideas. We already know where their theories led us. And now we have a choice as a nation. We can return to the failed economic policies of the past, or we can keep building a stronger future. We can go backward, or we can keep moving forward.

And then:

[J]ust yesterday, I was stunned to hear the leader of the Republicans in the House say that financial reform was like using a nuclear weapon to target an ant. That's right. He compared the financial crisis to an ant. The same financial crisis that led to the loss of nearly eight million jobs. The same crisis that cost people their homes and their lives savings.

Well if the Republican leader is that out of touch with the struggles facing the American people, he should come here to Racine and ask people if they think the financial crisis was an ant. He should ask the men and women who've been out of work for months at a time. He should ask the Americans who send me letters every night that talk about how they're barely hanging on.

These Americans don't believe the financial crisis was an ant. They know that it's what led to the worst recession since the Great Depression. And they expect their leaders in Washington to do whatever it takes to make sure a crisis like this never happens again. The Republican leader might want to maintain a status quo on Wall Street. But we want to move America forward.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel emails this response: "The president should be focused on solving the problems of the American people – stopping the leaking oil and cleaning up the Gulf, scrapping his job-killing agenda, repealing and replacing ObamaCare – instead of the House Republican Leader's choice of metaphors. It's clear Boehner was not minimizing the crisis America faced - he was pointing out that Washington Democrats have produced a bill that will actually kill more jobs and make the situation worse."